Koh Lipe is the island that you must visit if you do not have the budget for the Maldives. Located 42km from Langkawi, the journey by Speedboat from Telaga Harbor only takes approximately 90 minutes.
Upon reaching a floating platform not far from Pattaya Beach, you start seeing the reason why they referred to this place as the Maldives. I was mesmerised by the view and almost forgotten to take my backpack with me before continuing our ride to the shore with a long-tail boat.
We stayed for three nights at the Bhundaya Resort located on Pattaya Beach. The resort was about 200 metres away from the Walking Street. You would be able to find restaurants, bars, travel agencies, souvenir shops, convenience stores, ATMs, clinics and massage parlours along the street.
The three main beaches in Koh Lipe were Pattaya Beach, Sunrise Beach and Sunset Beach. On this small island, you didn’t have to worry about getting lost, just walk around, and soon you would be an expert and easily navigate from one beach to another.
However, there was also a motor taxi available to take you everywhere you wanted. You just need to approach them and haggle down the price.
During the stay, besides eating and drinking, we went for island hopping & snorkelling. We were supposed to go to five different islands but skipped Koh Hin Ngam, the island with black volcanic stones.
It was my first time snorkelling in deeper water where my feet couldn’t reach the bottom. It felt like floating in a beautifully decorated aquarium tank. The visibility was excellent, and I was able to see coral reefs, a variety of colourful tropical fish, starfish and sea urchins. But sadly I didn’t have a waterproof camera. Otherwise, I would love to share the pictures here.
Sunset Beach was about 15 minutes walking distance from Pattaya beach. If you have any plans to visit this place, be sure to apply some mosquito repellent.
Koh Lipe by far was the most beautiful island I’ve ever been to. I couldn’t help but fall in love with its crystal clear water and soft powdery sand beach.
The weather throughout the stay was great, and we had a great time. Sadly, I lost most of my pictures. It’s bizarre, but luckily I have some photos which I had uploaded to Facebook earlier on. Anyway, we will be coming back again in future, and I will make sure to take tons of pictures!
We stayed a night in Hatyai on the 21st of December and took a minivan back to Penang for a short break before continuing our next trip to Ho Chi Minh and Phu Quoc Island.
Funny moment:
During our snorkelling at the beach in front of the resort, there was one nasty little fish that kept on attacking our leg. Whenever someone shrieked, I quickly swam away from that person. But still, I got bitten countless times. I was terrified during that time, but now whenever I think of it, it was actually quite funny, a little fish bullying us 😂.
My fact:
I disliked murky water as it made me scared of not knowing what was under it.
Travel Date: 18th – 21st December 2014
